There are many ways to avoid success in
life, but the most sure-fire just might be
that Procrastinators
sabotage themselves.
They put obstacles in
their own path. They actually choose paths
that hurt their performance.

ProcrastinationPsychology Today put together a nice little article centered
on procrastination. Here it is with a bit of editing:

Everyone procrastinates sometimes, but 20 percent of people are true
procrastinators. Chronic procrastinators consistently avoid
difficult tasks and deliberately look for distractions, which,
unfortunately, are increasingly available. Procrastination in large
part reflects a difficulty in regulating emotions and to accurately
predict how he/she will feel tomorrow, or the next day.

Procrastination, like achievement, is a mindset, a habit, a
pattern of behaviors that can support or negate our efforts to
accomplish our goals and dreams. As we set goals, ask questions
about the road to success, and visualize our dreams, we must be
equally vigilant in developing skills and habits that help us
overcome the tendency to abuse our time and settle for less than our
best. You can master your tendencies and overcome the seeds of
procrastination.

Procrastinators say they perform better under pressure, but that's
just one of many lies they tell themselves. Since procrastinators
are made and not born, it's possible to overcome
procrastination—with effort.

Uh-oh, you've got the earmarks of a
procrastinator. Of course, you've got lots
of company. Twenty percent of people
identify themselves as chronic
procrastinators. These are people who don't
pay their bills on time, who miss
opportunities for buying tickets to
concerts, who leave Christmas shopping until
Christmas Eve. Let's not even talk about
income taxes!

It's not
trivial, although as a culture we don't take
it seriously as a problem.
It represents a profound problem of
self-regulation.

College seems to bring out
the
procrastination in people. In the
college setting, up to 70 percent of
students identify themselves as
chronic procrastinators.

Of course, it won't help you get things
done any faster to know that procrastination
isn't good for your health. Putting
things off creates higher levels of
stress and sends all those stress
hormones coursing through your body,
wearing it out faster. And it puts you at
risk for poor health because you're just as
likely to delay seeking treatment for
medical problems as you are to delay
everything else.

Procrastinators make themselves sick!
Procrastination actually weakens your immune
system. It keeps you awake at night. And it
doesn't do a thing for your relationships
either. It makes loved ones resentful,
because it shifts the burden of
responsibilities onto them.

Procrastinators are made and not born.
That's both the good news and the bad news.
Good because it's a learned response, and
what's learned can be unlearned. The bad
news is that while it's possible to change,
it takes a lot of psychic energy and you
don't necessarily feel transformed
internally.

You should know that some people who
think of themselves as procrastinators
really aren't. In a world of unending
deadlines, they just put too many things on
their "To Do" list. They're not avoiding
tasks, the mark of a bona fide
procrastinator; they're getting things done,
just not as many as they would like.

Five lies procrastinators tell
themselves:
It's easy to tell whether you're a real
procrastinator. According to Joseph Ferrari,
Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at
De Paul University in Chicago, real
procrastinators tell themselves five lies:

• They overestimate the time they have
left to perform tasks.

• They underestimate the time it takes to
complete tasks.

• They overestimate how motivated they
will feel the next day, next week, the
next month--whenever they are putting
things off to.

• They mistakenly think that succeeding
at a task requires that they feel like doing
it.

• They mistakenly believe that working
when not in the mood is suboptimal.

Procrastinators also actively look for
distractions, especially ones that don't
take heavy-duty commitment on their part.
Checking e-mail is just about tailor-made
for this purpose. The dirty little secret is
that procrastinators distract themselves as
a way of regulating their own emotions, such
as
fear of failure.

So face it. Some tasks are never going to
be joyful moments of blissful pleasure no matter how long they
marinate on your desk. You've got to do them
now.

8. Estimate the amount of time you think
it will take you to complete a task. Then
increase the amount by 100%.

Procrastination
The modern term comes from the
Latin
word procrastinatus, which is the past participle of
procrastinare derived from pro- (forward) and
crastinus (of tomorrow).[6]
Though descriptions of procrastination appear in ancient Egyptian,
Greek and Roman texts, it first appears by name in the English
language in 1548 according to the
Oxford English Dictionary.[

“Don’t be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will
never begin.”
–
Grace Hansen

“There are two
mistakes one can make along the road to truth — Not going all the
way, and not starting.”
–
Buddha

Perfectionism/Afraid to Make a Mistake.
Perfectionism as a cause for procrastination?

Do you spend valuable time
worrying instead of acting? The first step in addressing this
problem is recognition of self-defeating behavior and associated
thinking.

Visualize the project
successfully completed and the steps you need to take to get
there. Create a clear picture for yourself and your team.

Now, take a first step in
the detailed action plan you've created. Build on the momentum.

Start the assignment. Just start...

Labels for Procrastinators:
Lazy. Slow starter. Dawdler. Unmotivated. Stupid. Disorganized. The
procrastinator is dubbed with some unflattering labels. Similarly, a
business that is slow to respond can be identified as
ineffectively managed, and its products are often viewed less
favorably. As you can see, whether you're doing homework or running
a business, this behavior has tremendous negative
implications.

Usually, there is a more telling
root cause for this behavior. Therefore, the first step in
structuring a project to minimize procrastination (or to combat an
existing problem) is to carefully consider why you or one of your
team members might not act with a sense of urgency. Then, you can
select the appropriate tactics to apply. The time will be well
spent. According to business consultant Brian Tracy, the habit of
urgency is one of the biggest determinants of career success.

Poor Work
Habits.
Someone with poor work habits spends excessive time on unimportant
tasks or works inefficiently. As a deadline approaches, reliance on
adrenaline is often necessary. This behavior can be misconstrued as
procrastination. But, there are some easy fixes to this one. Things
to do include: